Archive for March, 2010

The Census QAC banner will be posted anytime there is a representative inside. Photo by Ian Dapiaoen.

Have you filled out your U.S. Census form yet? Do you have questions about the form and are looking for materials in your language? Come to the White Center CDA office to get your questions answered!

The White Center CDA has been established as a Questionnaire Assistance Center (QAC), so please stop by with your questions and your Census form. In addition to English, we have QAC workers who speak Vietnamese, Spanish, and Khmer.

Stop by the office at these designated times to speak to a QAC worker:

Mondays - 4:00pm-8:00pm

Tuesday-Friday - 11:00am-4:00pm

Our office is located at 1615 SW Cambridge Street, on the corner of 17th and Cambridge. You can call us ahead of time at (206) 694-1082 to see if a representative in your language is available.

Logos courtesy of their respective organizations to use on the White Center CDA website.

After spending most of your morning and early afternoon at Spring Clean, visit the Evergreen Community Aquatic Center and swim for 2 free hours! Here’s the announcement from our community partner, WhiteWater Aquatics Management:

Drop by the Pool after your hard day’s work!

Join us for a Free Public Swim!

WhiteWater Aquatics Management is pleased to invite you to the re-opened Evergreen Community Aquatic Center after the White Center Spring Clean on May 15th. We can’t wait to have you play around in the pool after all the work you’ve done! Bring the kids to play - we’ll have the pool toys available, and Life Guards and Water Safety Instructors on deck to keep an eye on them. Check out our new swim programs, jump in the pool, or just cool off on the patio with your friends. We’ll be glad to meet you again.

Mmmm.... Photo of one of Proletariat Pizza's lovely pies courtesy of Ian Dapiaoen

Today only! $10 for $25 worth of pizza and and brews at White Center’s own Proletariat Pizza.

Housed in a former bakery, this husband-and-wife pizza palace invites diners to kick back while the pies crisp and the staff zigzags around the room like a fleet of choreographed Roombas. Each circle of dough is hand mixed and flattened into a thin, flakey, fitting throne for each fresh topping. Creations are 18 inches in diameter and range from classic to creative like the ham and egg pie with prosciutto, soft yolks, mozzarella, and homemade tomato sauce ($18). The aptly named vegetarian combines sun-dried tomatoes, kalamata olives, and goat cheese ($18) for a meatless masterpiece. The Favorite is rumored to cure cooties with its toothsome Italian sausage, fragrant garlic, and Mama Lil’s hot peppers ($18).

The Office of the Education Ombudsman (OEO) is now offering Ombudsman Clinics at community sites for families of students in public schools who have questions about the education system, or are experiencing concerns about their children’s education. Our first clinic was held at the Greenbridge YWCA in partnership with the King County Housing Authority.

After introducing OEO at a community meeting of Somali, Cambodian and Vietnamese residents, a group of Somali families requested an Ombudsman Clinic to express their concerns about their children’s education.

During the two-hour clinic, one topic was identified as an area of concern for the families, and two parents offered to serve as spokespeople for the group in sharing their concerns with the school district.

The ombudsman later contacted the school district to share the nature of the families concerns and to schedule a meeting for the Somali parents, the school district and the ombudsman to discuss solutions.

The Ombudsman facilitated a successful follow-up meeting with school district personnel and two of the families. They were able to express their concerns, and the district immediately responded by offering several solutions. A follow-up meeting with all the families is planned so that the families who attended the small meeting can share what progress has been made.

OEO will continue to meet with a variety of community groups and plans to offer Clinics for several of them over the next few months. For more information about the Ombudsman Clinics, click here. If you are interested in scheduling a community group to meet with an Ombudsman for a Clinic, please contact Cathy Liu Scott at cathyliu.scott@gov.wa.gov.

“The Ways of the Owls” by Manoush Castaneda-Vizcarra
Book Reading & Signing
Thursday, April 1, 2010

2:30pm-3:30pm

Evergreen Campus Library
830 SW 116th St. Seattle 98146

Manoush Genet Castaneda-Vizcarra completed “The Ways of the Owls” at age fourteen and is working on her next novel. She is a student at the Health Sciences & Human Services High School (HS3) on the Evergreen Campus.

“Manoush Castaneda deftly conjures a powerful story vividly told, The Ways of the Owls deals with profound issues of gender oppression and personal freedom that draws the reader into the lives of the young Mexican girl Maximiana and those around her. Maximiana- her strength, courage, and life in Mexico a century ago - will inspire you.” - JOHN GRIFFITH, Associate Professor of English University of Washington

Books for purchase will be available at the event. This event is free of charge and open to the public.

What comes to mind when you think of the Rat City Rollergirls? If it’s tattooed women and fast, physical action, you’re not alone. But that’s not the whole story.

Meet Valerie Morris, ‘08. She’s tall, pretty and goes by the skater name Valtron 3000. She’s also a scientist, having earned her Ph.D. in molecular and cellular biology from the University of Washington. As a postdoctoral fellow at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, she concentrates on leukemia research, but says, “When I go out there and skate, I get to be someone totally different.”

As Valtron 3000, Morris is a five-time all-star for the Throttle Rockets, a “constellation of kickass” according to the team’s Web site and one of four squads within the six-year-old Rat City Rollergirls. She’s considered one of the best jammers in the league, and it’s her responsibility to score points by passing other players-by any means necessary.

“I started doing derby my first year in graduate school,” says Morris. “Sometimes your experiments aren’t working, but I can put on my pads, knock people down, get that aggression out and just not think about it for two hours while I’m skating.”

More than 15 UW alumni are on the Rat City roster, and two of the league’s three founding members are Huskies. Katie Merrell, ‘98, and Lilly Warner, ‘02, also known as Dixie Dragstrip and Hurricane Lilly, respectively, spawned the idea for roller derby in the Emerald City at a 2004 dinner party. The third founding member is Rahel Cook (Rae’s Hell), owner of Zippy’s Giant Burgers in West Seattle.

The trio originally rented out the Southgate Skating Rink in White Center and prayed that a few hundred folks would show up and watch. Six years later, Rat City Rollergirls is soaring in popularity and drawing thousands of fans to KeyArena for each bout.

The Washington Achievement Award was created by the Superintendent of Public Instruction and the State Board of Education. This highly selective award is based on schools’ performance according to the newly created School Accountability Index, a comprehensive measurement of how schools in Washington are performing over time. Schools are selected for the award based on their state assessment data for the previous three years.

“The selection process for the Washington Achievement Award is very rigorous, and your staff, students, parents, and community can take real pride in being part of this elite group,” says State Superintendent Randy Dorn.

“These awards show the progress we are making in student achievement,” says Highline Superintendent John Welch. “We have seen that when we raise the bar and hold students to high expectations, they meet and even exceed them.”

The award-winning schools will be recognized at a state awards ceremony in Renton on May 5.

Hello! Be in White Center on March 20th for the March Third Saturday Art Walk!! The Art Walk starts at 6 PM and ends at 9 PM. Here is the lineup. Remember, we are a volunteer organization. We can use you!! Many hands…you know the rest. We will be posting a list of volunteer opportunities soon. We are an organization for all artists, all mediums, and for the whole community. Spread the word.

Proletariat Pizza: Lonjina Verdugo: I am inspired by my children. I created my first collage for my daughter when I couldn’t find that special and unique piece when decorating her room. Art for my children quickly led to gifts for friends and family and then special requests. As an artist and designer, I am attracted to the texture, weight and design of paper. In my collages, I am taking another artists work (the paper) and ripping, tearing, cutting and creating whimsy, spontaneity, humor, fantasy and delight. I’ve always been drawn to color and shapes, whether in decorating my home or graphic design for my clients. The pieces hanging at Proletariat Pizza are a representative of my own aesthetic of texture, contrasting colors, and abstract designs.www.lonjina.com

The Highline School Board is developing a district policy aimed at ensuring equity for students of all races and ethnicities in Highline schools. As part of this work, the board and staff are participating in a series of work/study sessions facilitated by Martin Friedman of the People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond, a national anti-racist training organization.

The school board decided to start work on an equity policy after board members and the superintendent’s senior leadership team participated in an Undoing Institutional Racism training presented by the People’s Institute.

Teachers and principals were represented at the last school board work/study session on March 8, in which participants viewed and discussed a video examining the roots of racism in our nation.

Through these sessions the school board intends to identify inequity in our school system and establish policy to correct practices that lead to equity.

Community members are invited to attend the next session on April 12, at 6:00 p.m. at the school district central office (15675 Ambaum Blvd. SW in Burien.)